Man's dog escapes from doggie hotel in Sao Paolo, so he promises to climb 0.5 miles uphill on his knees if they get reunited; now he has the scars to prove it, owner says: 'I never thought of giving up'

Have you ever pleaded with the universe? "If I get an A on this test", "If I get this job", or "If she says yes…", then proceeded to make a promise you never thought you would have to keep? Yeah, well, if you ever make a promise like that, be ready to put your money where your mouth is.

When you think of São Paolo, you think of unpredictable weather, bright colors, a bustling metropolis, and lots of people. If you get separated from your buddies there, the chances of finding your way back on your own are slim to none. With 11.9 million people living there, finding one specific person can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Thankfully, we have smartphones now that solve all those problems, but it doesn't help if you lose your dog.

While traveling in Brazil, a dog owner left his pupper in a doggie hotel in São Paolo. While out touring the city, he got the one call that every dog owner is afraid of hearing - his dog escaped and is now lost in the city.

With all the odds in the world against him, he turned to "Our Lady of Aparecida", the patron saint of Brazil, and promised to climb up to her altar on his bare knees if they were reunited. That's a 0.5 mile hike, not including elevation. An extreme retribution for a dire situation, he hoped that this offering would help him find his doggo when he had no one else to ask for help.

Personally, we would have spent our time calling the local police or making lost dog posters, but everyone processes things in different ways. Whether it was divine intervention or not, he did, in fact, find his lost dog, and he went to fulfill his promise. "I never thought of giving up", he said.

He still has the scars to prove it.

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via Toledo Fotografia - toledofotografia_

A street market in São Paulo
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
We don't really believe in “fate”, but stories like this make us question our beliefs. The chances of finding a lost dog in a city you're unfamiliar with, not to mention the physical size of São Paolo itself… they have to be astronomically small. And yet, it still happened. Was it a miracle, or was it a very lucky coincidence?
“When my dog went missing, I promised Holy Mary I would go up and down a 0.5 mile hill on my knees if we found her, and we did. AMA”
My dog ran away from the dog hotel when we were traveling and, since this happened in Sao Paulo, I was so desperate we would never see her again I promised Holy Mary (Nossa Senhora Aparecida) that I would walk up and down a 0.5 mile hill on my knees if we found her, and we did!
You can ask me anything about the fate part, the logistics part, the aftermath part [….] feel free to ask anything that spikes your curiosity!
-Rare_Notice4476
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via Getty Images For Unsplash+

A happy young man hugging his dog outdoors
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
soupywarrior
I’ll just preface this by saying these are genuine questions out of curiosity; I’m not being sarcastic:
1- Why did you think that pledging to walk up and down a half mile hill on your knees would help to find your dog?
2 - Is this something that is normal in your religion?
3 - Is this particular act a recognised ritual in your religion or is it something you made up on the spot?
4 - If you made it up on the spot, then did you do it for the pain it involves? Or the creativity of thinking it up? Or some other reason?
Rare_Notice4476 (response)
Thank you for your questions! And thank you for being a good sport about that. I am totally open to answering the best as I can:
1- I couldn't do anything else, as Sao Paulo is such a big city she could be anywhere, so I turned to that. My family has a history of graces being given, like when my grandma beat cancer, so I knew I had something that could possibly aid me in a time of need
2- it is very common. In fact, if you go to the Aparecida Santuarium, they have a huge room for people to show the graces that they achieved.
3 - you can promise a variation of pleas, usuay they are lighter (like promising a candle molded after the body part you want healed, for example), but the knee walk is one of the most extreme ones and used when the situation is really bad. If you go there at any time of the day you will see people doing that.
4- as I said, it is a standard promise to do in such severe cases, so I didn't come up with that. The sacrifice involves the pain of doing that and the reminder afterwards, but I would do it again in a heartbeat for her.
sticks_and_stoners
Did you wear knee pads?
Rare_Notice4476 (response)
Actually, no! My knees were badly hurt because of that and I still have the scar. But when I was passing an older lady was having so much pain doing the same thing that I lent her some towels that I had so she could protect her knee.
Altruistic_Tonight18
I’d love to hear about the logistics and circumstances of the knee walk… How long was the trail with switchbacks included? I assume you mean that the hill vertically reached half a mile? How long did it take? What was the pain like? What did you use to protect your knees during the trek? Was there any injury? Did you consider stopping and asking Mary to forgive your lack of ability to complete your promise when it was extremely hard?
It’s super cool that you actually kept a promise. If I may make a suggestion for next time, maybe tell Mary that you’ll do a hundred pushups?
Rare_Notice4476 (response)
Thank you for your input! The last part actually made me laugh a little. But you see, I needed to do something that would be hard for me to match the difficulty of the plea, you know?
I googled it on Google maps and it said it as a 0.5 mile distance, I could be wrong tho. Vertically I don't know.
It took two hours altogether to go up and down.
It was really hard, I cried a lot, the pain was insane because since my grace was achieved I wanted to pay back in full, so I didn't wear any protection. I got both of my knees badly bruised and I still have the scars, but they healed up completely. I never thought of giving up, as my grace was achieved.
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via Kyle Larivee

A lost black dog stands in a city street
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
One_Subject3157
What chances do you honestly believe it was just luck/coincidenze?
Rare_Notice4476 (response)
Zero, to be honest. Finding a lost dog in Sao Paulo is like finding a needle in a Haystack.